Dr Vasanthi Vidyasagaran: Doctor, Teacher, Writer… Legend

Nagulan Thevarajan

Consultant Neurodevelopmental Psychiatrist, Medical Member, First Tier Tribunal, Judiciary, UK

Introduction

Being good enough, though recommended by psychoanalysts the world over, does not get adequate traction in this modern world. What does it mean? In a nutshell, it refers to the perfect balance of avoiding the extremes of inattention and perfectionism. My mother-in-law strived to achieve this balance throughout her life becoming an absolute legend, both in her personal and professional spheres.

Dr Vasanthi, by discovering that being good enough is best, constantly innovated, questioned, corrected, demonstrated, taught, shared with professional colleagues, and accomplished the holy grail of connecting with the public, from a specialty that she loved.

A mother and a Doctor

Balancing the needs of an acute medical specialty with a young family is hard for professional women even in these modern times, and Dr Vasanthi has been a beacon of hope for women since the 80’s. Whilst her grit and inner strength are widely recognised, I feel her relational skills were key to her success as well. It was a combination of these skills that helped her work through the postgraduate exams, government service commitments, and two young children, all in one decade.

Women are said to be multi-taskers, but there comes a woman once a generation who can also get everyone around them to multi-task. As her professional commitments grew, she also had the responsibility of raising teenage daughters, their own growth and aspirations demanding more of her space and time. Somehow, Dr Vasanthi achieved all this without a pause in her professional growth, retiring as the first Director of the Institute of Anaesthesiology and Critical care (Madras Medical College, Chennai), whilst both her daughters graduated with postgraduate medical degrees, and became record-releasing musical proteges.

Everyone who knows my mother-in-law, Dr Vasanthi, knows that her profound commitment to nurturing life was not limited to her family, but also extended to her patients and their families, her numerous students, and her personal and professional associates. The opposite was also true, in that the sharing of her medical and scientific excellence was not just limited to her students and associates, but also extended to her daughters, sons-in-law, her surgeon husband, and even her grandchildren😊. She absolutely inspired brilliance in both family and profession. This was another unparalleled balancing act that was so successful that it garnered love and admiration from all the lives she touched.

Dr Vasanthi’s Legacy

Compassion is a word that rolls off the tongue when talking about a doctor. Sometimes though, it can be confused with always being nice to everyone and never pointing to mistakes. Dr Vasanthi, in her own way, achieved this balance, which proved critical in her profession, not only in interactions with patients and emotional relatives, but also with surgical colleagues and other professional staff, to ensure the right outcome for every case.

Dr Vasanthi’s stories from the OT, sharing practical insights to handle challenging clinical situations, connecting to students and associates, taking responsibility to raise public awareness on anaesthesiology and critical care, never hesitating to share her time and knowledge, are some of the things that we should absorb into our life. That will be the legacy of such an inspiring person and can be the gratitude that we can shower her with.

Her life was one of compassion, knowledge, and leadership. Her contributions are enduring and live on not only through her written works, but also through her children, grandchildren, and most importantly, her students. And finally, as a son-in-law living close to her, we developed a routine of morning coffee, where there was almost always an innocuous probe into how things were with me, between me and my wife (her daughter), with my parents, my profession etc. I admire her knack of building it into a nice conversation that was non-judgemental and never taking sides with anyone. I think this part alone should be explored more in developing a template for successful relationships. I consider myself really lucky to have had a mother-in-law whom I respect, love, and admire.

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